Web developers, you deserve better. Is Firefox OS the answer?

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In startup spheres and app dev shops, the web developer is the red-headed stepchild. In a mobile-first technology ecosystem, a web dev can’t get no respect.

But for now, forget Java and Objective-C and all those ridiculous porting tools. Mozilla, longtime champion of web developers everywhere, wants to make the language of the web work on phones — and thus help the web dev move away from her current, lowly status and into the same technical caste as her iOS and Android developer brethren.

In a new blog post and video (below), Mozillan Chris Heilmann explains why Firefox OS, the web-based mobile operating system from Mozilla, is the platform (and tooling) web devs have been waiting for.

See, one of the biggest reasons web apps haven’t taken off on phones is developer support. There haven’t been enough good tools to monitor and improve performance and memory usage.

Microsoft just came out with a boatload of reporting tools for IE11, but that’s just one step in the right direction.

Mozilla is taking another such step. Firefox’s developer tools now include a responsive design simulator for various screen resolutions as well as a Firefox OS emulator just for the new brand of phones running Firefox OS.

To drill down more than that, you’ll need to get a Firefox OS device of your own (you can pre-order the higher-end Peak+ now for September delivery).

“There are efforts to create HTML5 tools out there and Mozilla is keeping a close eye on these efforts to see where and if partnering makes sense,” Heilmann writes.

“The tooling space of HTML5 applications is one of the most discussed markets on the Web right now. We are confident that in the nearer future a lot of new, amazing tools will become available to make HTML5 app development easy and give developers the insights they need when they develop. For now, using the browsers' developer tools and the Firefox OS Simulator will get you 90 percent of the way.”